This is all so stupid. Still no real proof that Assad even did it. The UN report couldn't conclude that. We couldn't conclude that.

Moving dish soap and beans is hard enough in a war zone. No way in Hell they can move truckloads of super weapons around without being attacked, killed, and the weapons being absconded with. The shiat is best left right where it is. With the rebels being who they are, this stuff will be captured and used if it's moved.

Well, that's the earlier of the two statements - last Saturday, setting the "ultimatum", vs. Wednesday, with the "Maybe that's not quite so ultimatumish as we previously led you to believe", so yeah, I think somewhere in there, there's the intent to let Syria comply.

Although, the whole ultimatum setting business in the first place has a little bit of the pre-Iraq stink, where we said, "Give us all your documentation NOW OR ELSE!", Saddam gave us a hastily thrown together many-thousands-of-pages document, and we basically said, "HEY, this isn't 12 pt font with 1 inch margins in a clear plastic binder, WTFSHOCKNAWEMOTHERfarkERSGITSOMEWOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

incendi:Amos Quito: What, you didn't think that Obama and Netanyahu would actually let them comply, did you?

FTA: Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said Wednesday that "our goal is to see forward momentum" by Saturday, not the full list. "We've never said it was a hard and fast deadline."

Soooo.... yes?

Also FTA - John Kerry - her boss: "We agreed that Syria must submit within a week - not in 30 days, but in one week - a comprehensive listing," Kerry said Saturday. He said the U.S. would allow "no games, no room for avoidance, or anything less than full compliance."

LarryDan43:The hero of neoconservative America, Putin, will not let us down.

That one still has my head a-spinnin'. Haven't had a chance to get my crazy uncle's two cents on it yet, but it would be hilarious to see how he reconciles that little bit of cognitive dissonance. He's a Green Beret from the Cold War era, so I'm sure it'd be a hoot.

Well, now that the rebels are fighting each other, maybe these artificial deadlines can be postponed. Al Qaeda vs the Syrian rebels might warrant close attention to Russia's claims that the rebels used CW as well, knowing the great respect AQ has for human life.